German Eisbock Recipe and Tasting - Homebrew Jar of Destiny

This week, we dive into John's first Jar of Destiny beer of 2024; Eisbock.
The trick with Eisbock is brewing a great Bock and then freezing just enough water out of the batch without losing too much of the batch itself. This results in a stronger beer than the original batch.
We sample bot pre and post the freeze process. The original Bock was very good. Malt complexity and a touch of noble hop character. It finished with a hint of that 8.5% ABV poking through on the finish. A well crafted and brewed Bock, check! The Eisbock version seemed a touch sweeter and surprisingly it was a big smoother in its presentation. While we estimated this beer to now be about 12% ABV it did not drink that way. It was very pleasant a touch more malty as you'd expect. But while you could feel the effect of the higher ABV it didn't present that way on the palate and you could easily consume this version a little too quickly if you didn't know it.
Recipe:
Eisbock Recipe - BJCP 9B
5 US Gallon batch size
9 gallons of Spring Water with 4 grams of gypsum and 4 grams of Calcium Chloride
Grains
62% Weyermann® Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt
34% Weyermann® Dark Munich Malt
5% Weyermann® Caramunich III Malt
Hops
.5 ounce of Magnum Hops Pellets 12.3% AA)
.5 ounce of Hallertaur Mittelfruh Hop Pellets 2.6% AA
Yeast
4 Packets of Saflager W-34/70 Lager Yeast
Mashed for 60 minutes at 155° F (68° C)
Boiled for 75 minutes, ensuring original gravity target
Chilled to 50°F (10°C) and fermented for 3 weeks
Racked and conditioned for 1 month at 33° F (0.5° C)
Racked 1.75 gallons into mini keg
Put in freezer for 6 hours. Closed transfer of non-frozen beer into other mini keg.
Original Gravity: 1.085
Final Gravity: 1.020
ABV: 8.53%
Eisbock ABV: 11.9%
#eisbock #jarofdestiny #brewdudes
Check out our blog:
www.brew-dudes.com/eisbock-ja...

[@kevinssilentfishing7292]

Love big beers.

[@lekcom62]

Hi guys this show was my all time favorit i couldn`t stop laughing watching drink those strong beers thank you from Bill

[@user-vt3fj9wm5j]

Love your show! I play with this on all kinds of beers for fun. A regular pale ale kicked up with this approach is fantastic. I will even do it with a single bottle. Throw it in the freezer and keep an eye on it, once it has some good ice going I pull it out and pour it leaving the ice behind. The ice wants to plug it sometimes and I just put it in a small strainer upside down over a glass and prop it up to drip/pour out. haven't had a bottle burst yet 😀

[@egruber50]

Just wanted to say John you did a fantastic job with this style considering you've probably not tried to brew it before. The only thing that I would recommend with these high gravity beers is go with more hop bitterness. Not Imperial Stout bitterness level but just enough to blunt the residual sweetness that Mike noted. Anyway, great job and keep up the fantastic content.

[@scottbenson4818]

Bochey and Bochland, fantastic use of the kings english! I agree with Mike, it’s a style people used to get wild with and made some harsh brews that were “awesome” to them because they overdid a process. That beer will be great if John does what he said. By the way, John was taking some mighty sips off the 8% “small” beer!! Love it! Cheers from Uxbridge.

[@grahamhawes7089]

Nice job John!! What an ambitious style. Your strategy of repeated closed transfers was genius.
I’d really like to try an eisbock for extended aging someday. For long term aging I like to bottle condition, but at that ABV, I’m not confident in a healthy secondary fermentation. I guess I could bottle from the keg with my Nukatap counterpressure system and just CO2 purge like crazy first. Hopefully oxidation wouldn’t be a problem for such a rich style.

[@ronaldmallette]

When I was a young fella stationed in Baumholder, we'd go to Frankfurt in Sachenhausen and have a 24% Eisbock.

[@JohnDoe-es5xh]

You surely ment Sachsenhausen 😀

[@ronaldmallette]

@JohnDoe-es5xh oh I did. I spent many a drunken weekend there. The Irish pub, the English bar for traditional breakfast the next morning. The troubles were in full swing back then.

[@TheBogstaverne]

Love eisbocks, its liquid dessert

[@robertscott6615]

Love these!

[@finspin4984]

Pretty big pours of a 12% beer. Such an impressive brew.

[@Soupy_loopy]

I made a bock once, long time ago. It tasted like you described. I guess I'm not a fan of this style, even though I like malty beers. The bock I made is the main reason I tend to choose Vienna malt over Munich. I do love a Vienna lager. But it's good to know it wasn't just me, I didn't have much experience at the time.

[@ZukaraTheGame]

I have never touched dme and i have only done biab my whole brew life....i got some dme following a expedition stout clone.....im doing hybrid as is the clone. I hope its warm and full like expedition stout.

[@infoscholar5221]

Don't listen to this shit. just make beer.